JRS gives me hope. It gives all of us hope. We listen, we care about individuals and we can still give people our time – and this has value.

Damascus, 23 January 2014 - I have been working with JRS for about nine months now, as the home visits coordinator. We have seven teams that visit families every day. They assess the needs of each family, and we are able to discern which families are in most need of help, or if they need specific assistance – medical and so on.

I find the most stressful thing is that when you leave the house in the morning, you don't know if you'll ever see the others again. Also we can't go out at night, we are always trapped inside. It's suffocating.

I have twins, they are four years old, but they are afraid all the time because of the sounds of the fighting: shelling, bullets, mortars… all of it. We don't really take them out to play in the park anymore so they are cooped up inside the house and this has a negative effect on them. They are nervous and aggressive with each other. It worries me a lot.

I feel that our future lies in the hands of our children. We have to allow our children's minds to be open about religion, for them to understand that we can live together peacefully regardless of our beliefs. I believe this can be done through education first but it's also the responsibility of the community and especially of the parents and family at home. This is the most difficult thing to change – but we have to try.

JRS gives me hope. It gives all of us hope. We listen, we care about individuals and we can still give people our time – and this has value. We do more than just give people things, and thats the difference between us and others.

Riad, Damascus

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